Bald eagles are back from the brink

Recent news reports of a pair of bald eagles flying around Staten
Island suggest that New York City may someday have baby eagles within
its boundaries for the first time in at least a century. This isn’t all
that far-fetched: the birds are now seen regularly along the Hudson
River in winter.

Forest destruction, hunting, and DDT poisoning took a tremendous toll
on the birds that the United States made a national symbol in 1782. By
the nation’s bicentennial, there were approximately 500 eagle pairs left
in the lower 48 states (New York state, as an example, had one pair
left). That’s when efforts to conserve and reintroduce them begin in
earnest.

Today there are more than ten times that number in the lower 48
states. Alaska and Canada have even more; Alaska was a major source of
young birds for re-introduction programs. In 2007, the federal
government “de-listed” bald eagles from the Endangered and Threatened
Wildlife list, making their recovery a bonafide success story.